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Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 11/22/91 -- Vol. 10, No. 21
MEETINGS UPCOMING:
Unless otherwise stated, all meetings are on Wednesdays at noon.
LZ meetings are in LZ 2R-158. MT meetings are in the cafeteria.
_D_A_T_E _T_O_P_I_C
12/11/91 LZ: MIRKHEIM by Poul Anderson (Novels with Names of
Scandinavian Mythological Places in Them)
01/08/92 LZ: EXPECTING SOMEONE TALLER by Tom Holt (Operatic SF)
01/29/92 LZ: A CLOCKWORK ORANGE by Anthony Burgess (Dystopias)
_D_A_T_E _E_X_T_E_R_N_A_L _M_E_E_T_I_N_G_S/_C_O_N_V_E_N_T_I_O_N_S/_E_T_C.
12/14/91 SFABC: Science Fiction Association of Bergen County: Denise
Little of Barnes & Noble and B. Dalton (phone
201-933-2724 for details) (Saturday)
12/21/91 NJSFS: New Jersey Science Fiction Society: TBA
(phone 201-432-5965 for details) (Saturday)
HO Chair: John Jetzt HO 1E-525 908-834-1563 hocpb!jetzt
LZ Chair: Rob Mitchell LZ 1B-306 908-576-6106 mtuxo!jrrt
MT Chair: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
HO Librarian: Rebecca Schoenfeld HO 2K-430 908-949-6122 homxb!btfsd
LZ Librarian: Lance Larsen LZ 3L-312 908-576-3346 mtfme!lfl
MT Librarian: Mark Leeper MT 3D-441 908-957-5619 mtgzy!leeper
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper MT 1F-329 908-957-2070 mtgzy!ecl
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
1. Like most red-blooded Americans I don't watch real television
any more. Some of you may remember real television. You would
watch a show like _T_h_e _D_e_f_e_n_d_e_r_s where E. G. Marshall would defend
some poor jerk against the cruel and heartless system. Sometime
E. G. would win; sometimes the system would. And then the ads
would be like Alka-Seltzer's classic "No Matter What Shape Your
Stomach Is In."
These days that sort of television is mostly gone. The networks
show mostly situation comedies of people screaming at each other or
teenagers trying to mate with each other. Then there are the ads.
There is one where the woman comes on and says in great mock
reluctance that unfortunately today everybody needs a can of Mace
THE MT VOID Page 2
(tm). And there are other ads. There are ads for things that I
never knew existed when I was growing up. I only heard about them
when I heard guys joking about them in my high school men's room.
Now those same things have big Technicolor ads on prime time
television Jeez!
And those are the daytime ads. At night all the ads go something
like this: There is an attractive woman who cannot read her lines
standing there saying, "I know how it is. Sometimes you just have
to discuss those intimate private details of your life with a tall
blonde who has big breasts. You can call me twenty-four hours a
day. I am always on the phone. My number is 1-900-AIR-HEAD."
Then a little voice says eight dollars for each minute. I was
trying to watch a movie on the local ABC affiliate and they would
have a five-minute commercial break and four minutes were taken up
with eight ads all pretty much like this one.
So I don't watch the real stuff any more. Not fresh, anyway. I
watch canned television. I catch it fresh, but then I store it on
the shelf until I want to watch it. Why am I telling you this?
Well, yes, there is a point but you have to tune in to my next
piece to get it.
2. People have requested summaries of the discussions. Well, the
following is not so much a summary as comments from Charlie Harris
as a "virtual attendee" (rather than a physical attendee), but you
may find it interesting anyway. (For those who don't attend, I
should explain the "thumb vote": we initially gave books thumbs-up
or thumbs down, but this gradually evolved into a full range from
12:00 to 6:00.) And now, here's Charlie:
Wouldn't you know it: The first time (as far as I recall) that
I've ever finished reading a Club selection a week early, and now I
won't even be able to attend the Club meeting.
So here's my thumb vote: 1:00.
I am surprised and puzzled by my vote. I had read _T_h_e _P_u_p_p_e_t
_M_a_s_t_e_r_s long ago, during the Golden Age of SF, and it was for a few
years my favorite sf book--one of the very few books I ever
finished in a single day. Typically, my Golden Age favorites turn
out to be disappointing when I reread them.
_T_h_e _P_u_p_p_e_t _M_a_s_t_e_r_s wasn't. I thoroughly enjoyed rereading it.
But I'm at a loss to say why. It seems to violate most of my
criteria for good sf: It has no novel ideas or insights. It
doesn't transport me to some bizarre but believable world, time, or
mind. It isn't humorous or (most of the time) suspenseful. It
presents no puzzle or mental challenge, no unforeseen or delightful
denouement. The writing isn't good--in fact, the tough-guy/gal
THE MT VOID Page 3
wisecracks were annoying, the reiterations of how inexpressibly
revolting the aliens' appearance is was annoying, and the repeated
misuse of "hagridden" was _v_e_r_y annoying. The characters weren't
especially interesting, and the basic plot is standard.
That sounds like I'm panning the book, right? But I really _d_i_d
enjoy it enough to rate it real high. I can point to only a few
things that the book had going for it:
1. To me, it was almost completely believable. I believed that
the alien invasion might happen that way, and I believed that
people might react that way.
2. There was only one sf element--the aliens--or maybe two: the
physical aspects of how they possessed their human hosts, and
the mental. No additional inventions or elaborate future-
world detailing to show off how clever the author is. (Well,
maybe just a few, such as the flying craft and the colony on
Venus, but nothing much was made of them.)
--SPOILER WARNING!! Quit now if you haven't read the book!--
3. I was taken by surprise by how _e_a_r_l_y in the book the
protagonist got captured. And then I was taken by surprise
again later. Sure, that's one standard plot variant, but it
was effective here.
4. The portrayal of the mental processes of a captured human was
so unexpectedly low key. I found that particularly
impressive amidst all the surrounding hyperbole.
5. I was none too sure who would win out in the end (even having
read the book before). That's no big trick for an author to
pull off, but this time it did keep me involved.
Okay, that's all I can think of to say. Wish I could be there to
hear whatever everyone else thinks.
3. Due to the poor turnout at the November Middletown meeting, and
due to a new scheduling conflict, the December meeting scheduled
for Middletown has been canceled. If anyone in Middletown is
interested in having discussions, please suggest a topic (and offer
to lead it!). [-ecl]
Mark Leeper
MT 3D-441 908-957-5619
...mtgzy!leeper
... that knowledge may not be as a courtesan, for
pleasure and vanity only, or as a bondswoman, to
acquire and gain to her master's use, but as a spouse,
for generation, fruit, and comfort.
-- Francis Bacon
THE TRINITY PARADOX by Kevin J. Anderson and Doug Beason
Bantam Spectra, 1991, ISBN 0-553-29246-3, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
Elizabeth Devane is an anti-war, anti-nuke activist who sneaks
into Los Alamos one night to destroy the government's latest
project. (Anderson and Beason seem to think breaking into a secure
government installation is easy.) But whatever the device is--we
never really find out--breaking it up sends her back to 1942. Stuck
there, she passes herself off as a mathematician sent to work at Los
Alamos. (A facility that screens all out-going mail would take
someone with no identification and no paperwork to work on such a
sensitive project?) She finds herself caught up in the project and
her small attempts at intentional sabotage do less than her
carelessness (through an extremely unlikely plot device).
The problem is, I think, that no one behaves realistically.
Devane wouldn't be allowed in to do classified work. And I think
she would also be more knowledgeable about the history of nuclear
warfare--an anti-nuke activist who doesn't even know what dates the
bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki wouldn't be high enough
in the organization to be assigned to break into a facility like Los
Alamos. Scientists wouldn't be smuggling letters to the enemy, even
out of such noble motives as sharing knowledge. Americans wouldn't
have reacted to events as Anderson and Beason show them. Germans
wouldn't be as careless as they are portrayed. In general, everyone
seems to act as the plot requires, rather than as human nature and
history indicate they would. While reading a time travel/alternate
history set at Los Alamos has its enjoyable moments, _T_h_e _T_r_i_n_i_t_y
_P_a_r_a_d_o_x does not bear close scrutiny.
WHAT MIGHT HAVE BEEN, VOLUME 2: ALTERNATE WARS
edited by Gregory Benford & Martin H. Greenberg
Bantam Spectra, 1991, ISBN 0-553-29008, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
Well, after a long wait--over a year since Volumes 1 and 2 came
out within a few months of each other--Volume 3 of Benford and
Greenberg's series of alternate history anthologies is finally out.
Whether this series is the cause or the effect is not known (at
least not to me, though see my comments below), but we seem to be
living in the Golden Age of Alternate Histories, with at least a
dozen appearing in major magazines and who knows how many elsewhere
just this year. Heck, even _S_p_o_r_t_s _I_l_l_u_s_t_r_a_t_e_d carried one ("Bubbles
and the Babe," Fall 1991 special issue): not a very good one, true,
but an alternate history nonetheless.
I say I don't know whether this series is the cause or the
effect, but I suspect it is at least partly the cause. Why? Well,
while it's possible that eleven authors independently decided to
write alternate histories this year--and that they all got published
and then collected by Benford and Greenberg--it is less likely that
they would all fit in the category of "alternate wars." So I would
assume that these were commissioned for the anthology but, finances
being what they are, arrangements were made to allow them to be
published first in the magazines.
I say "eleven authors," and the cover says, "Tales of Alternate
History by Eleven Premier Voices in Science Fiction," but there are
actually twelve stories and authors. While there is some evidence
that the Resnick story may have been a last-minute addition, I think
it more likely that one they considered the twelfth author is the
one not usually considered a "premier voice in science fiction,"
though he did win a Nobel Prize for Literature. In 1930, when his
career in politics appeared finished, the Right Honourable Winston
S. Churchill, M. P., was commissioned by J. C. Squire to write a
piece for _I_f _I_t _H_a_d _H_a_p_p_e_n_e_d _O_t_h_e_r_w_i_s_e: _L_a_p_s_e_s _i_n_t_o _I_m_a_g_i_n_a_r_y
_H_i_s_t_o_r_y. That anthology is now almost unobtainable, but Churchill's
piece, "If Lee Had Not Won the Battle of Gettysburg," is at last
reprinted here. The title is not a typo; Churchill writes as though
in a world in which Lee won, and his descriptions of what would have
happened had Lee lost are mostly of the sort "We wouldn't have X"
and "Y never would have happened," though he also "predicts"
carpetbaggers et al. But clearly the alternate history aspect is in
his descriptions of the world in which Lee won. (One might ask why
someone who could predict all sorts of alternate events arising from
Lee's victory could fail to see even two year's into his own world's
future, but just as hindsight is easier than foresight, so is
sidesight.)
Alternate Wars November 17, 1991 Page 2
The remaining stories are all from sixty years later (1991) so
I will treat them chronologically by internal date. James Morrow's
"Arms and the Woman" (_A_m_a_z_i_n_g, July 1991), set during the Trojan
War, takes a look at what might have happened if Helen had taken a
somewhat more active role. Done in Morrow's typically irreverent
style, it's not completely credible as a piece of realism, but as
part of a mythos it does work, and works well.
"The Number of the Sand" by George Zebrowski looks at the
infinite possible branchings of history, in this case those
centering around Hannibal. Unfortunately, Zebrowski can do little
but catalog the various variations--there is no time to develop any
of them to a reasonable extent.
The time setting is initially vague for "The Tomb" by Jack
McDevitt, so I will place it here. (Yes, you eventually find out
when it takes place, but that would be telling.) It's a powerful
story, marred only afterward by nagging doubts that the change would
have caused such a drastic result. (In stories in which the change
point is not given early on, I will try to speak in generalities to
avoid spoiling the surprise.) Even with these doubts, though, I
still find "The Tomb" a haunting story that I'm sure I'll remember
for a long time.
"And Wild for To Hold" by Nancy Kress (_I_s_a_a_c _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e
_F_i_c_t_i_o_n _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e, July 1991) postulates an institute that pulls
critical people out of the past in order to tailor history. The
story centers on Anne Boleyn, though other historical personages
figure as well. My objections to this story are two-fold. First,
the "alternate war" element is minimal and the story seems out of
place in this anthology. Second, and more seriously, the extraction
of some of the characters from history would seem to preclude the
existence of others who appear.
Contrary to the blurb in _I_s_a_a_c _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n
_M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e (where it first appeared in October 1991), Gregory
Benford's "Manassas, Again" is _n_o_t set in the future. It's an
alternate Civil War--a very alternate Civil War, and certainly one
of the more original of that sub-genre. Interestingly enough,
though, the same key incident was recently used independently by
another author to go off in another direction entirely. Benford's
story is the more concise (the other was a novel) and explores the
idea with a thrifty compactness.
Poul Anderson has the Americans fighting the French empire in
"When Free Men Shall Stand." It appears superficially that the
change point was the Battle of Trafalgar, but that was in 1805 and
the change obviously occurred before the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
No, it was the decision by Napoleon not to invade Egypt but to
consolidate his-European holdings that led to this face-off of the
United States and a still French Louisiana Territory. (I mention
Alternate Wars November 17, 1991 Page 3
this only because the reviewer in _L_o_c_u_s seems to tag Trafalgar as
the cause.) Anderson has done his homework, though I still think
"In the House of Sorrows" is his best alternate history. (It
appeared in _W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t _H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n _1: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _E_m_p_i_r_e_s.) But the
self-contained nature of "When Free Men Shall Stand" makes it more
satisfying than any of his long series of Time Patrol stories,
showing an originality and freshness and "edge" that they are
missing. (Readers may want to compare this to T. R. Fehrenbach's
"Remember the Alamo,"recently reprinted in Isaac Asimov and Martin
Greenberg's _G_r_e_a_t _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _S_t_o_r_i_e_s: _2_3 (_1_9_6_1). Anderson's is
better, and more believable.)
"Over There" is one of Mike Resnick's "Alternate Teddy" stories
(Roosevelt, that is). It first appeared in _I_s_a_a_c _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e
_F_i_c_t_i_o_n _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e in April 1991 and assumes that Theodore Roosevelt
decided to take his Rough Riders to Europe to fight in World War I.
More a character study of Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson than
an "alternate war" story in spite of its whole raison d'etre being
to comment on the changing face of war, this tale draws on Resnick's
African knowledge as well.
Alternate World War IIs are always popular (they and alternate
Civil Wars are neck-in-neck for the lead), and Benford and Greenberg
provide three. "Tundra Moss" by F. M. Busby deals more with
telegraphy on an Arctic island base than with the alternate history
situation, which is basically an aside in half a dozen short
paragraphs at the beginning and another half-dozen at the end. With
this, as with many alternate histories that merely mention the
alternate history aspect without doing anything with it, I am
reminded of the marble hand found by the archaeologists in James
A. Michener's _T_h_e _S_o_u_r_c_e. They believe it to have been broken off a
complete statue, but it wasn't--the artist intended it to _i_m_p_l_y the
rest of the figure. Perhaps it might work in a sculpture, but in an
alternate history story, anyone can say, "In this world, X happens"
(or doesn't happen, depending)--the point is to develop that idea,
not to leave it as an exercise for the reader. As fiction, "Tundra
Moss" is okay, but it fails as alternate history.
"Godard's People" by Allen Steele (_I_s_a_a_c _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e
_F_i_c_t_i_o_n _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e, July 1991) is a straightforward "history" of the
Allies' big push toward rockets (rather than atomic bombs) during
World War II. (There is purportedly a previous story, "John Harper
Wilson," which is set in the same timeline and appeared in the June
1989 issue of _I_s_a_a_c _A_s_i_m_o_v'_s _S_c_i_e_n_c_e _F_i_c_t_i_o_n _M_a_g_a_z_i_n_e.) Unlike many
of the stories, which are character studies with a veneer of
alternate history, this is almost pure alternate history
speculation. (The purest such was, of course, Robert Sobel's _F_o_r
_W_a_n_t _o_f _a _N_a_i_l., and this sub-genre has its special devotees.)
Barry N. Malzberg's "Turpentine" is set in an alternate 1968
where everyone is like they were in 1968, only more so. Given the
Alternate Wars November 17, 1991 Page 4
tenor of 1968, for most people this means angrier and the results
are perhaps predictable when some protesters seize a reactor at the
University of Chicago. Other Malzberg alternate history stories
center around the 1960s and angry protests. Benford describes this
as "fevered remembrance," but I find the obvious passion with which
Malzberg writes overpowering and too strident for my tastes. I had
mixed feelings during 1968--I thought the Vietnam War was a mistake,
but I also had a father over there, so I was not ready to condemn
everyone who went either. My reaction Malzberg's story may reflect
this and, as always, your mileage may vary.
Last is Harry Turtledove's "Ready for the Fatherland." The
premise here is that Hitler was assassinated in 1943, before he
could manage to get Germany so stuck on the Eastern Front that they
could never accomplish anything. Flash forward a few decades. Two
agents are trying to smuggle arms for the uprising in Croatia,
difficult because the government has a cordon around the port city
of Rijeva. The Serbs are attacking the Croats every chance they
get, and vice versa. Roadblocks and multiple armies make the going
rough. And now, gentle reader, a question for you: are the last
three sentences describing Turtledove's story or CNN's latest news
bulletin?
If you answered, "Both," you are correct. If Churchill can be
taken to task for failing to predict two years into his future,
Turtledove is in the unenviable position of having history belie his
story even on its publication. His premise--that Hitler's demise
would have led to the survival of a fascist Croatia and continued
internal strife between Serbs and Croats--may be true.
Unfortunately, when the opposite event (Hitler's survival) is shown
to lead just as inevitably to this war, it looks too much like
predicting the sun will rise. True, in our world the Serbs have the
upper hand (last time I checked) and in "Ready for the Fatherland"
the Croats do, but ironically, the results are almost
indistinguishable--a country full of troops in a state of civil war.
This may sound like a criticism of Turtledove. It isn't. It's
more a commentary on the Balkans--_a_n_y history will result in war.
(All roads lead to Rome, and all timelines lead to Balkan wars.)
Turtledove postulated a slightly different war. Had he projected a
glorious peace, _t_h_e_n I would be skeptical. I don't know whether
Turtledove intended it this way, or whether it's merely
serendipitous (a la _M_a_r_o_o_n_e_d and _T_h_e _C_h_i_n_a _S_y_n_d_r_o_m_e), but "Ready for
the Fatherland" is a strong argument for the inevitability of some
historical trends, a vindication of the "Stream of History" over the
"Great Man" theory. To paraphrase: The Moving Finger has already
future writ, / And has moved on: nor all your Piety nor Wit / Can
ever make it change a single line / Nor all your Tears alter a Word
of it.
Alternate Wars November 17, 1991 Page 5
_W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t _H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n _3: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _W_a_r_s is a worthy successor to
_W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t _H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n _1: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _E_m_p_i_r_e_s and _W_h_a_t _M_i_g_h_t _H_a_v_e _B_e_e_n
_2: _A_l_t_e_r_n_a_t_e _H_e_r_o_e_s. Though there are a few disappointing stories,
there are enough good ones to more than compensate, in particular
the McDevitt, the Morrow, the Anderson, and the Turtledove. Add to
this the inclusion of the Churchill and the book becomes
irresistible to alternate history fans and a good choice even for
those who are just looking for good, thought-provoking reading.
================================================
ALIEN TONGUE by Stephen Leigh
Bantam Spectra, 1991, ISBN 0-553-28875-X, $4.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
This second entry in Bantam Spectra's "Next Wave" series is not
up to the first (_R_e_d _G_e_n_e_s_i_s by S. C. Sykes). Perhaps it's that the
aliens are unconvincing--as several people have pointed out, the
odds seem against a race which cannot lie ever achieving a high
level of technology or sophistication. It isn't helped by Asimov's
opening essay, in which he claims that of course an alien race that
discovered Earth would make contact and explore, because we always
had. 1) We didn't always--the Chinese at one point decided to pull
back, burn their navy, and give up exploring. 2) They're _a_l_i_e_n_s.
The whole point of the book is that aliens are different from us,
they have different thought processes, they have different
priorities. (This of course also means my first complaint may not
be completely valid, but all I can say is that Leigh doesn't
convince _m_e.) Rudy Rucker seems to grasp Leigh's concept of alien
in his afterword better, at any rate. But in addition to the
unconvincing aliens, the love story lathered on top was totally
unnecessary and seemed like mere padding.
But _A_l_i_e_n _T_o_n_g_u_e does continue "The Next Wave"'s mission of
science fiction with ideas, having as its plot interstellar travel
and first contact. And Leigh, on the whole, handles the psychology
of an avian race well. Because of this, I would say that _A_l_i_e_n
_T_o_n_g_u_e was an acceptable read--not great, but reasonable for a plane
flight or the beach.
BY BIZARRE HANDS by Joe R. Lansdale
Avon, 1991 (c1989), ISBN 0-380-71205-9, $3.99.
A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper
I don't normally read horror, but I made an exception in this
case. First, there were reportedly two alternate history stories in
this book, and I'm an aficionado of alternate history stories. And
second, Joe Lansdale has a reputation for writing unusual stories.
(I think of him, rightly or wrongly, as the Howard Waldrop of
horror.)
Of the sixteen stories, I will comment specifically only on
two--the alternate history ones, of course. "Trains Not Taken" is a
fairly straightforward alternate history: the Japanese settled North
America from the west as the Europeans settled it from the east,
leaving no frontier or "Wild West." So the great heroes of that era
ended up as politicians instead. This is fairly mundane and the
historical underpinnings don't bear close scrutiny (what happened to
the Spanish if the Japanese had the West Coast sewed up?). "Trains
Not Taken" is an interesting character sketch but not much else.
"Letters from the South, Two Moons West of Nacogdoches," on the
other hand, is a gem. Like "Trains Not Taken," it's set in a world
in which the Japanese got involved in North America, but there the
similarity ends. And to tell any more would be unfair--suffice it
to say I didn't think an author could put that many twists in a
five-page story.
The other fourteen stories are closer to my definition of
horror and range from merely well-written to memorable. There are
no clunkers, and I don't hesitate to recommend this book to you even
if you don't read that "horror stuff."
CAPE FEAR
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: How can you go wrong with a
crime thriller directed by Martin Scorsese,
photographed by Freddie Francis, with credits by Saul
Bass and a score (virtually) by Bernard Herrmann?
You do it by trying too hard to make the ultimate
thriller and taking things just too far. Had this
film been tied up twenty minutes earlier, it would
have been rated better than a low +2 (-4 to +4).
There seem to be a lot of different groups who were involved
with making _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r. There was Steven Spielberg's Amblin
Entertainment, there was Cappa Films, and there was Tribeca
Productions. Martin Scorsese directed. But somehow at the heart of
this film is Steven Spielberg. Though his name appears no place in
the credits, what is good about this film and what is bad about it
has Spielberg's name written all over it. Spielberg seems intent on
going from one genre to another making the ultimate film of that
genre and then overpowering it with excess. What _1_9_4_1 was to
wartime comedies, what _R_a_i_d_e_r_s _o_f _t_h_e _L_o_s_t _A_r_k was to action
adventures, what _P_o_l_t_e_r_g_e_i_s_t was to the ghost story, that is what
_C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r is to the crime-suspense film. This was supposed to be a
tense suspense film in the tradition of _N_i_g_h_t _o_f _t_h_e _H_u_n_t_e_r and the
original _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r. And it succeeds beautifully. Robert DeNiro's
Max Cady is a brilliant and implacable stalker. For maybe eighty or
ninety minutes, this is one of the great suspense films. Then some
place--I'd say it is a trick Cady is able to pull off with a belt--
_C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r crosses the line from tense but realistic film into
monster movie. And if a monster movie has tension at all, it is a
different kind of tension. From that point on, the identification
value is gone and the viewer just watches two opposing forces chew
away at each other. This is one film where less would have
certainly been more.
Fourteen years ago public defender Sam Bowden (played by Nick
Nolte) intentionally hid evidence that could have freed his
illiterate client Max Cady. He had known his client was guilty of
rape and did not want to see Cady go free. Sent to prison for
fourteen years, Cady taught himself to read, then educated himself
to understand the law. He also built his body into a tower of
strength. And once he learned of his lawyer's betrayal, he
dedicated himself to making Bowden pay for hiding evidence. In
fourteen years, Cady has made himself a supreme strategist preparing
for the war with Bowden that Cady knew was coming. Cady's attacks
will tear apart Bowden's family life and will destroy Bowden's
career. While Sam Bowden flounders to find the best way to defend
Cape Fear November 19, 1991 Page 2
himself, Cady will make one brilliantly considered move after
another.
Robert DeNiro's Max Cady is an excellent screen villain.
Behind the hair slicked back with black grease and the big obnoxious
cigar is the agile mind of a chess master. He can be vicious like a
force of nature or he can be seductive like a snake. In the longest
scene of the film he turns his seductive power on fifteen-year-old
Danielle Bowden. This is a particularly powerful and disturbing
scene. It is the centerpiece of the film and it shows how Cady
manages to turn every human frailty to his advantage.
Another example of the excesses of this film, incidentally, are
Cady's religious tattoos. A nice touch from _N_i_g_h_t _o_f _t_h_e _H_u_n_t_e_r
(and perhaps from the original _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r--I do not remember) is that
Robert Mitchum covers his psychotic behavior with a veneer of
fundamentalist religious piety. We are never really sure whether or
not he really believes his viciousness is fulfilling God's will.
However, he takes the piety to the point that he has tattooed
himself with religious messages. In this film, DeNiro's Cady has
the same religious fervor and has become a veritable illustrated
man, with more than a dozen religious tattoos.
This is a film that spared little expense to create its
effects. On top of a good cast--Robert DeNiro, Nick Nolte, Jessica
Lange, and Joe Don Baker--the film throws in cameos of three actors
from the original film--Robert Mitchum, Gregory Peck, and Martin
Balsam.
Technical credits are equally well cast. Title sequences are
done by Saul Bass. For those unaware, Bass really pioneered the
idea of making the titles into films that stand on their own and
comment on the rest of the film. Many of the classic films that had
striking credit sequences show his work. These include _A_r_o_u_n_d _t_h_e
_W_o_r_l_d _i_n _E_i_g_h_t_y _D_a_y_s, _V_e_r_t_i_g_o, _T_h_e _B_i_g _C_o_u_n_t_r_y, _A_n_a_t_o_m_y _o_f _a _M_u_r_d_e_r,
_N_o_r_t_h _b_y _N_o_r_t_h_w_e_s_t, and _N_i_n_e _H_o_u_r_s _t_o _R_a_m_a. The tension and the
bizarre visual effects start in the opening credits, which are
superbly crafted by Bass.
From there the visuals are carried by Freddie Francis--also one
of the greats in his field, moody photography. Francis's work
includes _T_h_e _I_n_n_o_c_e_n_t_s, _T_h_e _F_r_e_n_c_h _L_i_e_u_t_e_n_a_n_t'_s _W_o_m_a_n, _T_h_e _E_l_e_p_h_a_n_t
_M_a_n, and _D_u_n_e. This year he did _T_h_e _M_a_n _i_n _t_h_e _M_o_o_n. To have both
Bass and Francis on the same film seems to indicate someone went out
with a very large wallet and a determination to buy the best. The
one visual out of place is the use of super-dramatic storm-cloud
skies, uncharacteristic of Francis, but almost a trademark of
Spielberg.
The original _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r and many of the best of Alfred
Hitchcock's thrillers had scores by the late Bernard Herrmann.
Cape Fear November 19, 1991 Page 3
Herrmann, of course, could not do this score, so Elmer Bernstein was
hired to rework Herrmann's original themes from the first _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r
and in general to write in Herrmann's style. So one more expensive
but tasteful decision was made. The new _C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r essentially has a
Bernard Herrmann score, full of the master's dramatic dissonances,
even if Herrmann was not around to write it.
Of all the choices of who would work on the film, the only one
that was really questionable is Martin Scorsese to direct. And it
may have been the biggest mistake. Scorsese's forte is realistic
crime. His one foray into horror fantasy, _A_f_t_e_r _H_o_u_r_s, works mostly
because it needed exactly what Scorsese could give it: a feel of
realism. Here that same feeling of realism stands him in good stead
as long as it can, but when Cady crosses the line into monster and
super-villain, Scorsese has mothing more to contribute. The film
goes into auto-pilot and Scorsese just films his scenes. The film
shows Freddie Francis's art but loses any Scorsese feel. One more
reason that the last part of the film was ill-considered.
_C_a_p_e _F_e_a_r is a very good thriller that saves almost all of its
mistakes for the last part of the film. I would give it a low +2 on
the -4 to +4 scale.
THE MAN IN THE MOON
A film review by Mark R. Leeper
Copyright 1991 Mark R. Leeper
Capsule review: This is the story of a salt-
of-the-earth sort of family in Louisiana in the
1950s, and especially Dani, a 14-year-old with a
crush on the 17-year-old boy next door. Two good
performances and good photography are sold short by
melodramatic plot twists. Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4).
It is 1957 in rural Louisiana. Fourteen-year-old Dani Trant
(played by Reese Witherspoon) is just at the awkward age when she is
approaching womanhood and thinks she has neither looks nor
intelligence. She envies her older sister Maureen (played by Emily
Warfield), who is attractive and gets good grades. Then her
father's old girlfriend, now a widow, moves in next door, bringing
her own family including a seventeen-year-old son, Court Foster
(played by Jason London). Court and Dani become good friends.
Their friendship begins platonically, but Dani gets a crush on Court
and is anxious to push things just a bit further. All by itself
this relationship causes problems between Dani and her father
Matthew (played by Sam Waterston). However, more family strains
start to show when Court discovers Maureen, a Trant daughter his own
age.
Robert Mulligan directs this story with all the sensitivity he
can muster. And sensitivity is certainly what the plot needs, since
it is perilously close to being a trashy Southern passions sort of
melodrama. In different hands this story could have been another
_G_o_d'_s _L_i_t_t_l_e _A_c_r_e. However, this is avoided, thanks to good acting
on the parts of Reese Witherspoon and especially Sam Waterston. As
Matthew, Waterston seems uneasy with the responsibility of
fatherhood. By turns he is authoritarian or compassionate, but
neither with real conviction.
The most unfortunate aspect of the film is a melodramatic turn
toward the end of the film. the two sisters are headed for conflict
in one way when the all too obvious hand of the scriptwriter
distorts things. It leaves the conflict but warps it into a
different one, and one that may be more quickly resolved. The last
twenty minutes of the film are the least satisfying.
Photography is by the excellent Freddie Francis, whose credits
as cinematographer include _T_h_e _I_n_n_o_c_e_n_t_s, _T_h_e _F_r_e_n_c_h _L_i_e_u_t_e_n_a_n_t'_s
_W_o_m_a_n, and _G_l_o_r_y. Overall the good moments of the film do not quite
overcome its weaknesses. I give it a low +1 on the -4 to +4 scale.